


I set my sights on you (and no-one else will do)

by lesbianquill



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, and i am viciously denying that jac is dead, everyone is gay for kate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianquill/pseuds/lesbianquill
Summary: The Doctor drops in on an old friend, and Bill finds it almost impossible not to immediately fall in love with her.





	I set my sights on you (and no-one else will do)

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't wait. Y'all know that Kate Stewart owns my ass, and that Bill would just about die if they ever met. Kate really is the kryptonite of all the gays in UNIT. Also, Jac is here, because I adore her and I think that she and Bill would be amazing sci-fi pals. Let's get gay, lads.

The TARDIS wheezes into life, and as Bill lurches from one end of the console to the other, she thinks that she could probably get used to this.

It’s mad, a little bit scary (okay, a  _ lot _ scary), and she’s still trying to wrap her head around it all being actually real, but it’s brilliant.  _ He’s  _ brilliant. The Doctor, who never stops. Always chasing another adventure. But Bill loves it, loves how there’s always something new to learn and explore. Even though she’s struggling to get a grasp on it all, it’s her life now.

Her life. She’s living inside one of the Doctor’s lectures, being tutored in real time, all the time. No more chips.

God, she could kill for some chips right about  now, but then the TARDIS is landing and there’s that descending moment of stillness that falls over them. The anticipation of the unknown behind those silly wooden doors.

“Where are we?” She asks, because that’s always the question— well, there are plenty of questions, but that one’s always the first.

“Tower of London!” The Doctor exclaims with a grin as he looks up at her from the console. Bill thinks there’s a bit too much of a glint in his eye considering there’s a slight chance he’s bought her to see a beheading, but she lets it go. There’s always something else. Something that isn’t  obvious straight away. He loves to show off, and who is she to stop him? All she knows is that there’s nowhere the Doctor  could take her that he couldn’t make exciting.

As they step outside, Bill pulls a face. They’re stood in a dimly lit stone room, the low ceiling just accommodating enough for the height of the TARDIS. Not  _ exactly _ the kind of adventure she was expecting. “You’ve taken me... to a dungeon.”

But the Doctor is already striding off down the dark, damp corridor, calling over his shoulder to her. “No, it’s much better than that!”

Bill is trying very hard to believe that, but she follows him anyway, because she’d be mad not to.

“Looks like a dungeon to me,” she says, and her voice echoes off the curved wall as they turn the corner.

“Well that’s because we’re not _in_ the tower, we’re _under_ it. Right now, you’re standing in UNIT HQ. You wanted sci-fi? This is about as much sci-fi as you can get.”

As the Doctor speaks, he leads her up a flight of stairs and out into a bustling room. There’s a handful of desks spread out with various people tapping away at computer keyboards. People hurrying around, shouting out orders, and Bill gawks at a couple of armed guards standing in the corner.

Then she spots her.

A beam of sunlight filters through the high windows, illuminating the dim space— but most of all, casting the most gorgeous glow on the woman who is standing right in the middle of the thrum, with hands on her hips. Her golden hair is tucked behind her ear, a stray curl freed against the softness of her cheek, with cheekbones so sharp that Bill finds her eyes trailing across their harsh curve to rest on her strong, tense jaw, then the pursed frown of her lips.

Bill had loved Heather’s eyes because they were interesting. They were different. Soft. Sad, but otherwise dancing with life and a hint of flirtation that she yearned for.

This woman might not have a star in her eye, but as she looked over at the Doctor, her gaze glittered with something even more breathtaking, like whole galaxies. It was the same look Bill was sure she gave him herself, from time to time. Wonder. Awe. Whatever it was, Bill wanted it for her own.

_“Who’s that?"_ She found herself whispering.

“Kate Stewart!” Either in answer or in greeting, the Doctor bounded over towards the woman. “What is it today— Crash landing? Weird signals? Dug up something you shouldn’t have?”

Kate snorts as she turns, and Bill curses inwardly as her view is obscured by the excited shake of the Doctor’s head. As much as she likes him, she really could kill him sometimes. Then Kate is leaning to the side, looking past him.

Looking at _Bill._

She’s not sure if all this time travel is sending her head funny, but as Bill looks back at her, she swears everything around them stops for a moment. It’s just her and Kate, eyes locked on each other. Kate’s giving her _that_ look _,_ the one that’s curious and inviting and makes her want to fall into her dark, endless eyes. Then her lips quirk up into a smile, just a little one.

Bill is rooted to the spot, heart hammering so fast in her chest that she reckons that the whole room must be able to hear it. Kate Stewart is smiling at her. She doesn’t know who Kate Stewart _is_ , but she is smiling at her, and she is beautiful.

“You brought a visitor?” Kate says, and she must have seen the look on Bill’s flushed face because her voice is soft. Low. Deep. Bill is glad she’s wearing a jacket because she can feel the goosebumps race across her skin, sense the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

The Doctor looks over his shoulder. Catches her staring. Bill realises that they’re both waiting for her to introduce herself.

She steps towards them tentatively, hand raising slowly into a tiny wave. “Hello,” she says awkwardly, because it’s just about all she can manage without accidentally asking Kate if she’d rather have a spring or summer wedding. _Would she wear a dress or a suit? Would they both wear matching suits? Would they both be white or not— how would Kate feel about wearing matching prints?_ “I’m Bill.”

“She’s new,” The Doctor chimes in, in a way that almost sounds like an apology for her incompetence.

“Ah,” Kate registers. Extends a hand towards her. Bill stares at it in horror before she eventually lowers her own. She shakes Kate’s hand firmly, even if she’s pretty sure she’s dying inside from how warm her skin feels. “Kate Stewart. Head of scientific research. Welcome to UNIT.”

The next few minutes seem to blur into one. She can’t really remember if she said much else, only because she can’t stop thinking about the feeling of Kate’s hand in her own. Can’t stop looking at her as Kate turns her attention back to the Doctor. Can’t stop imagining what her lips might feel like. What her favourite colour is. What music she listens to.

Next thing she knows the Doctor is steering her into a chair at one of the desks. Assumes that she’s just overwhelmed by everything else and not Kate Stewart and her stupid, perfectly imperfect face. She vaguely remembers him trying to explain what UNIT is and what it does, but the information goes straight in one ear and out the other. She’s far too busy letting her eyes wander across the room, wondering if Kate knows that she actually invented legs, by the look of how they’re wrapped up so snugly in those tight trousers.

The Doctor leaves her in the very capable hands of Jac, a friendly scientist who passes her a glass of water with a toothy smile and says, “You too?”

Bill likes Jac. Likes her a lot, because she’s smart and knows what she wants. Plus, after a bit of prodding, admits that she hasn’t done a speck of work all day because she’s thumbing her way through _Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_ for the eighth time. Bill can see herself in Jac’s chair someday.  Doing this— saving the world, reading sci-fi novels, and ogling Kate Stewart.

Kate Stewart, who is currently digging her hands in her pockets as she shouts orders at people. Who has this gruff, commanding voice that makes Bill’s stomach do backflips. Who looks like she could rule the world. Who every so often looks over to catch her gaze, softening as Bill smiles at her.

She could rule _her_ world, alright.

“It doesn’t get any easier, you know,” Jac says as she glances between them, “She has that effect on everyone. Caused three lab accidents so far this year with that face.”

“Does she know she’s doing it?”

Jac breathes out a laugh. “Not a chance.”

They sit and talk for a while, a bit about Kate (Bill learns that she is divorced, fiercely competitive, and can drink anyone in the room under the table), a bit about science, a bit about the Doctor. Jac is fascinated by him. She asks Bill about her studies and she shrugs in response, because she doesn’t really know what she’s doing any more, only that since she started travelling with the Doctor everything she knows has been turned on its head.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Bill says, grinning fondly as she looks up, watching the Doctor and Kate talking heatedly to each other, “It’s like, everything he used to talk about makes sense now. Well, kind of.”

“You’ll do fine,” Jac smiles, “I promise.”

She believes her, she really does, because Jac is brave, and kind, and everything that Bill wants to be.

The Doctor catches her attention as he moves back towards them, with Kate in tow. “Right then,” he starts, “Ready to go?”

“Yep,” Bill gives Jac one last smile as she stands up, “Thanks, by the way. For everything.”

Jac shoots her a wink before she scoots off in her chair to carry on reading. Or, more likely, to stare at Kate’s arse from over the top of her book. Bill can’t help but be proud of her. She has to be, otherwise she’d only be jealous.

“It was lovely to meet you,” Kate tells her, “You’re a great writer. Terrific reasoning in your essays. Very thorough.”

“Oh!” Bill exclaims, the words going completely over her head. “Um— thank you.” Kate Stewart just complimented her. Had called her a _great writer_. To her face. She wills herself to stop staring to give her a proper goodbye. “See you later then, yeah?”

Kate’s smile is gentle, and she reaches up to squeeze Bill’s arm, who squeaks at the unexpected touch.

“I’d like that very much.”

Then they’re being waved off as the Doctor ushers her down the stairs. The realisation hits Bill at last as soon as they reach the TARDIS doors.

“How did she know about my essays?” She asks suspiciously. Her essays were hardly fun afternoon reading, and absolutely not for someone like Kate, who would be _far_ too busy to pay any attention to her. It was always the way. Just when Bill found someone who was both brilliant _and_ pretty, they turn out to be busy. Or way out of her league. Or straight. Or they turn out to be a dead puddle monster, but she was trying to put that behind her. She’s still working on it.

The Doctor turns to unlock the door, but Bill thinks he might be hiding a smile. A secret one, just for her, because under all that seriousness is a sense of pride for how hard they’ve worked together. How far they’ve come. “What did you think we were doing here— having afternoon tea? I don’t think so, do you?”

“I don’t know, I thought you were saving the world or something. That’s usually what happens, isn’t it?” She shrugs.

“I was putting a good word in for you.”

“Here? At UNIT?” She stops dead in the doorway. Her heart swells. Maybe her thoughts of sitting up there with Jac and Kate weren’t so far off, and there was a chance that she could do something actually great with her life. Not that running away with the Doctor wasn’t completely and utterly amazing— but there was the pull for something _more_ , something permanent. How would her mum pay for the flat all on her own if she was off travelling through time and space? Would they do it forever? What kind of etiquette was there for when she wanted to leave— _if_ she wanted to leave? UNIT sounded perfect for her. Not the gun stuff, she wasn’t cut out for that, but the computer stuff. The science. Keeping Earth safe. _Falling in love_.

“Yeah— why not?” He says, as if getting her a job fighting aliens was the most natural thing in the world, “After all, where else am I going to send my best student?”

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a lot less time on this than I usually would, so I hope that I've done everyone even a slight bit of justice. Feel free to leave me a comment if you enjoyed this! (or if you just want to yell about Bill/Kate cuteness. I'm totally here for that too.)


End file.
